A Tunisian government official said today Wednesday that the massive fire that broke out in Borj Cedria in the southern suburbs of the capital is 90% under control and its tongues have moved closer to neighboring residential areas, according to a German news agency.
A spokesman for Nasr al-Din al-Nusabi said all outbreaks adjacent to residential areas have been extinguished and the Air Force will take over the task of putting out the remaining fires on the mountaintop and conducting sweeping operations. prevent the spread of new fires. Al-Nusabi said the causes of the fires were being investigated to see if they were natural or criminal.
Civil defense units, the army and specialized forest protection teams, backed by military helicopters, spent the night fighting fires that engulfed large swaths of the mountain, linked to the extended Burnin Mountain chain, overlooking the capital Tunis and its environs. suburb.
Flames and huge clouds of smoke have covered sections of the mountain since Tuesday evening and can be seen several kilometers from the fire site, and the fires have prompted animals such as wild boars to flee the forests.
Nearby witnesses said they heard explosions in the mountains, but a government spokesman said it was most likely old ammunition, adding that the source was being investigated. On Tuesday evening, the President of Algeria announced the dispatch of two large helicopters belonging to the Air Force and 20 large-type civil protection trucks to support Tunisian firefighting efforts at the request of the Tunisian President.
Residents of the town of Tabarka in northwestern Tunisia, close to the Algerian border, saw Algerian fire trucks heading for the capital Tunisia this morning.
